Your gold IRA custodian acts as your guide for account setup, rollover, and every other transaction. They have the crucial responsibility of ensuring you remain legally compliant with the IRS, so you need to do your due diligence by finding the right custodian for your gold IRA and investment goals.
When conducting your search, look for the following qualifications:
- Customer service: Your custodian should not only be friendly and helpful but also available when you need them. Check a custodian’s online reputation by browsing reviews on the Better Business Bureau website and other sites.
- Certification: Custodians and brokers must have certain certifications, licenses, and bonds.
- Response rate: Ideally, your custodian should be available 24/7 to answer your questions and provide guidance when you need it. They should also have ample knowledge of gold IRAs and related fields.
- Transparent communication: Custodians charge different fees, so you want to find ones without hidden costs. Find a custodian who’s transparent and upfront about their fees.
If you have any friends or relatives with gold IRAs, you can ask them for recommendations. Otherwise, searching online is the best way to explore your options and find qualified custodians with positive reputations.
What About Gold IRA Transfers?
With a rollover, you can move money and assets from multiple types of retirement accounts to your gold IRA. However, a transfer requires you to move money from one IRA to another. Essentially, a gold IRA transfer is when you move funds from a traditional, Roth, SEP, or SIMPLE IRA to your gold individual retirement account.
In either case, your custodian helps you move the funds and complete the necessary paperwork.
Storage and Security Considerations
When purchasing gold, silver, or other precious metals for your gold IRA, you can’t simply put them in your home’s safe. The IRS has strict requirements regarding where you can store your gold for retirement. Why?
Many people with gold IRAs hold a significant amount of gold and other precious metals. They need to ensure they can protect their investments, so the IRS requires you to store your physical commodities in specific storage facilities.
While your custodian will help you find an IRS-approved facility, you should consider factors like fees and security.
Since the facilities have to store your physical gold, you’ll pay certain storage fees. These fees vary with each facility, but you’ll likely have to pay:
- An initial setup fee
- An annual storage fee
- A transaction fee
Additionally, you may have to pay additional fees for transporting your gold from the dealer to the storage facility. The main expense to pay attention to here is the storage fee since you’ll have to pay this every year, and it ranges from $50 to $500. Ideally, your fees should only be equivalent to 5 or 10% of your total investment.
When it comes to security, your storage depository should spare no expense. IRS-approved facilities have state-of-the-art security measures and secure storage facilities that grant only you access to your precious metals. These facilities should also have sufficient insurance to provide an additional layer of protection for your assets.